June Van Klaveren announces her retirement

June Van Klaveren

Effective Sept. 1, June Van Klaveren, owner of Ballwin, Mo.-based Compelling Communications, has announced her retirement after 25 years serving the marketing needs of the professional pest control industry — and a 51-year career in the industry overall.

“It’s been a pleasure working with so many wonderful people in this industry! I feel very fortunate to have focused my business on pest control. I plan to focus on promoting my two children’s books: The Antics of Carrot, the Ferret and Me & Smugg, the Bug,” Van Klaveren said in a news release.

Van Klaveren provided marketing services including consulting and creating original newsletters, logos, brochures, websites, postcards and many other projects for her clients. She has also been a speaker at many state and national pest control association conferences.

Beginning her career working with Whitmire Research Labs in 1971, she served as manager of communications working with Pest Management Professional Hall of Famer Blanton Whitmire (Class of 2004). Whitmire Research Labs later became Whitmire Micro-Gen, and today is known as a legacy company of BASF.  In 2007, she established her own company, Compelling Communications.

She released a 33-page, colorfully illustrated paperback book aimed at kids aged 2-6 titled “Me & Smugg, the Bug: A Story of an Unlikely Friendship” in November 2021.

“In addition to my industry marketing background, I am a former teacher. I would love to see children read this book together in elementary school classes, to get them to think about friendship — and insects, for that matter,” Van Klaveren previously told Pest Management Professional (PMP).